Improvement in cloth-holding- g-tjide for sewyng-machines



D. R. LEWIS.

Sewing-Machine Guide.

- Patented Sept. 28. 1869.

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Letters Pate-at No. 95,362, dated September 28, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN CLOTH-HOLDING- G-UIDE FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of'the same.

To all whom it may concerw:

Beit known that I, DAVID R. Lnwrs, of Manchester, Delaware county, in the State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Cloth-Holding Gauge for Sewing-Machines; and I hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification.

Thenature or essence of my invention consists in the particular construction and arrangement of parts described in the specification, and represented in the drawings accompanying it.

In the accompanying drawings- Figure 1 is a plan or top view, showing a piece of cloth in the gauge partly sewed.

Figure 2 shows the under side of the gauge opened to receive the cloth to be sewed.

I 11 these drawings, A is a trai ersing gauge-bar which may be made of sheet-metal in the form shown, or in such other form as will answer the-purpose. This bar may be made by taking a piece of sheet-metal and turning up each edge at a right angle, and fitting one edge to traverse in the gauge-stand B, which is also made of sheet-metal, and bent in the form shown in drawing, with anotch, G, cut in the edge, for the screw to fasten it to the table of the sewing-machine.

To one end of the bar A, I fasten the bent bar F,

forming the arm F parallel to the bar A, as shown in the drawings.

'1 also fasten two or more braces, G G, to the bar A, by soldering, or otherwise, and perforate two of them for one arm of the clamping-bar, which has two arins,H and I. The first is fitted to turn in the braces G G, and the latter swings down 01? to the cloth and clamps it against the arm F.

Thearm I may be provided with spurs J J to hold the cloth, by passing through it, and entering holes in the arm F; and the arm I may also be provided with a spur near where it joins the armH, as shown at K in the drawing.

.That part of the clamping-bar which connects the arms H and I is curved, so as to leave an opening between it and the arm F, when the cloth is clamped, to

make room for any folds or seams in the cloth, which otherwise would hold the clamping-bars apart.

The stand L is fastened to the connection of H and I, to form a finger-piece to raise the arm I when the instrument is to be moved on the cloth being sewed and an extension, N, of the bar F, behind the bar A,

-is bent up to form a thumb-piece opposite the stand L, which thumb-piece N has a spring, S, fastened to it, to act against the stand L and close the bar I down on the cloth placed on the barE. And asthe cloth is sewed, the holder traverses in the guide-stand B, and the cloth traverses in a straight line, and sews a straight seam. I In using my cloth-holdinggauge, I start the sewing in the cloth, then apply the clamping-bars to the cloth, and the stand B to the traversing-bar A, and as the sewing progresses, and as the finger-pieces L and N approach the needle-bar, I press them together,to release the clamping-bars, and draw the instrument back on the cloth and clamp it again. In drawing the instrument back, I do not draw the traversing-bar A entirely out of the guide-stand B.

When I come to a crooked or curved place in the cloth to be sewed, I draw the gaugeout of the stand B and lay it aside until the crooked part of the seam is sewed,'and then apply the gauge again.

My moving cloth-gauge does not roll up the edges of the cloth being sewed, as a stationary one does; hence the advantage of my moving-gauge over a stationary one.

I contemplate using a curved traversing-harmful curved seams, and a serpentinebar for serpentine seams."

Having described my improved traversing cloth-. holder,

I claim the combination, with the guide-bar A and stand 13, of the spring clainping bars F and H, having long arms F and I, when all are constructed and arranged to operate as set forth.

' DAVID It. LEWIS.

Witnesses:

A. F. RUDOLPH, S. E. GAINES. 

